


Jagged Edges

by Lilith_Amaranthe



Category: Samurai Love Ballad: PARTY, 天下統一恋の乱 | Sakura Amidst Chaos | Samurai Love Ballad (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-10
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2020-02-29 11:10:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18777085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilith_Amaranthe/pseuds/Lilith_Amaranthe
Summary: My 1st ever fan fic...eep!This I like to think of this as an an extra layer for the divine ending. She and Kenshin are still in love and all the lovely moments from the divine ending still happen but...Spoiler for the divine Kenshin ending...It broke my heart that she was left alone in the end, that he asked her to live a long life without him. So I asked myself what if...what if he didn’t want her to alone with her sorrow...what if he wanted her to be loved again?





	1. The plan

Kenshin watched her sleep. His love for her was mingled with regret. Regret that despite how much he wanted to remain with her, to grow old with her he would be leaving her soon. He ached inside at the thought of leaving her alone for he better than anyone knew how the sadness of losing a love could change a person. He loved how his gentle flower could love so fiercely, bringing joy to so many around her and he didn’t want his passing to stop that beautiful smile after all it was one of his favorite things about her. His mind wandered thinking about how her soft smile could light up a room, how that radiance had reached not only into his soul but the souls of his retainers too and he stilled, a smile curving his lips. He ghosted a series of kisses across her neck and down to her shoulder as he joined her in sleep, a plan to keep that beautiful smile alive chasing him into his dreams.

——————————

A few days after they’ve settled into their new home near the river he’s lying in the sun his head resting in her lap. He’s just finished telling her how her lap is is favorite pillow, enjoying how she flushes such a delicate shade of pink and her golden eyes glow like amber shot though with sun, when a figure partially shades them from the sun. 

Kenshin smiles up at Kageie gesturing him to have a seat next to him and preventing his beautiful flower from moving by gently squeezing her hand. Kageie seats himself and arches a questioning eyebrow at Kenshin. Kenshin smiles innocently as he sets his plan to keep his love smiling in motion. 

“Would you train here for us today? Will you let my beautiful flower see the grace I’ve seen in you? I wish keep sharing my favorite things with her.” Kenshin can’t help but feel slightly satisfied as he sees a nearly imperceptible blush dance across Kageie’s cheeks as his eyes dance upwards to the woman before meeting his eyes again. The little indrawn breath from his beautiful flower also lets him know he’s chosen correctly. 

Of course neither can refuse him and so Kageie slips gently into their daily routine as the afternoons are spent watching him. Kenshin innocently pointing out to his beautiful flower the strength and grace of both Kageie’s movement and body; the passion on his face as he looses himself to the rhythm of his deadly dance. Kenshin loves watching how she flushes during these moments admiring how the pink across her cheeks only enhances her beauty. How as he holds her delicate hand he can feel the pulse in her wrist quicken; the strength in such a tiny thing only increasing his desire to keep her smiling when he is gone. That same smile sliding deeper into both men’s souls as the three of them enjoy the evening meals she prepares because as Kenshin points out her food is another of his favorite things.


	2. His eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Instead of him going blind over night I’ve altered it so he goes blind more gradually

One warm spring afternoon Kenshin doesn’t watch Kageie instead he turns his face to her and smiles gently. “Would you please describe his beauty to me today, my love? I’m afraid my eyes are tired and I can’t see that far.”

He watches her eyes widen at his request. He loves her so much at this moment; to see her strength as she takes a deep breath straightening her shoulders, her refusal to let fall the tears that shimmer in her eyes and the small smile that she graces him with. He lifts the slender hand he is holding to his lips caressing each finger with tiny kisses before pressing a firmer kiss on the pulse in her wrist letting his tongue dart out to taste her skin. When he looks back up he is satisfied to see the tears have been chased back and her lips are parted slightly and he can’t help but lean in to taste those too, his tongue teasing hers until she moans quietly against him. His leans back at that and smiles at her and the smile she returns wraps around his soul and nestles into his heart. 

Kenshin presses another kiss to her pulse before asking “Now my beautiful flower, can you tell me how beautiful our Kageie looks today?” His eyes drink in the pink flush on her cheeks at his words and she hesitantly starts. He guides her gently with questions at first but soon she relaxes and her words flow smoothly from her lips. While he can’t see Kageie his eyes drink in the sight of her as she watches Kageie, how her breathing deepens and her eyes stay fixed on the man that he knows is poetry in motion. He can tell when Kageie’s practice is finished by the widening of her eyes and the small gasp she lets out as her voice trails into silence.

The silence is broken as Kageie strides over to them. Kenshin admires the other man as he stops in front of them. Kageie is stripped to the waist and his chest gleams with sweat from his sword practice. Kageie’s face which is usually masked out of sword play by a small smirk looks vaguely vulnerable and Kenshin can only assume he heard the sweet words that only moments ago had been flowing from his beautiful flower’s lips. 

Kageie’s voice is raspy as he started, “Lord...”

Only to be interrupted by his love’s breathy, “I’ll go go fetch you some water” as she sprang up and darted off to the well her movements uncoordinated in her haste. 

Both men paused to watch her before facing each other again. Kenshin’s heart ached to see her unsettled but at the same time he felt hope to see her so unsettled by the man in front of him. He smiled sadly Kageie’s questioning look. 

“I,” Kenshin’s voice wavered slightly before strengthening “l couldn’t see you today. You were too far away. I asked her to be my eyes, to tell me about one of my favorite things”

Kageie’s voice was still a little hoarse when he replied “Your eyes? You can’t see?” Then even more quietly “Is that how she sees me?” His eyes were slightly wild and a muscle in his jaw pulsed. 

Kenshin resisted the temptation to run his fingers along that jaw hoping that maybe smaller softer fingers would find their way there instead. After all he knew just how strong her hands were for she had pieced together his heart with those small gentle hands, smoothing away the jagged edges, making him feel stronger and more certain than any other time in his life. He smiled gently at the other man before asking “Can you please check on her? I don’t want her to be alone”

He watched the muscle in Kageie’s jaw pulse again before Kageie bowed his head in accent, spun on his heel and strode off after the woman whose smile warmed both their souls. Kenshin wasn’t sure if it was a blessing or a curse that his eyes would not let him see the two figures by the well. He rested there in the sun feeling the warmth chase away the chill he often felt now a days and prayed for just a little more time with his favorites.


	3. Better

Kageie’s long stride slowed as he approached the small figure at the well, he felt a flash of panic as he stopped behind her. He’d never been a man of words preferring to keep the world and its potential pain at a distance, his seemingly relaxed manner a mask that had kept him safe in the past. Now it was gone and the man he had served and protected for so long was slipping away and he felt lost. He wished for the first time ever that he had that man’s gift so he would know what to to say to the figure before him, so she would smile that sweet smile that touched a place inside of him that no other ever had. He stared at the small silent figure seeing the hands gripping the rough stone edge of the well, he noticed the knuckles in those tiny hands were white with the strain from her grip. Without conscious thought he took that last step forward and reached out to one of those hands, sliding his own roughened hand over top and, with a gentleness he didn’t know he even possessed, pried those slender fingers off the rough stone. As soon as the last finger was free he heard a high pitched keening noise so full of pain that he froze again and in that instant she spun and threw herself against him burying her face against his still bare chest and clinging to him with a strength that surprised him. He instinctively wrapped his arms around her curving his larger body around hers as if to shield her from anymore pain and in the safety of his arms the last of her defenses fell away and she sobbed against him. One of his hands moved up to cup the back of her head and his own head dropped down near hers his pale hair mingling with her long dark strands as he whispered soft words of comfort, he couldn’t even remember later, in her ear. He wasn’t sure how long he held her like that, he held her until the tears stopped and her breathing slowed and the terrible tension he felt in her body relaxed. 

Eventually she loosened her grip and looked up shyly at him, before she could open her mouth to say anything he looked back at her and smiled. It was a smile that few ever got to see and it took her breath away, she smiled her sweet smile back at him, the smile that reached into his soul, and he asked “Better?”

“Yes” she replied and reached up a hand to smooth the last of the tension from his jaw. 

That evening over supper Kenshin was happy. He could see the softness in her smile again, the sadness she had been trying so hard to hide from him had been pushed back for now, the jagged edges that he could see forming in her heart halted and dulled. He could also see the tension was gone from Kageie’s jaw as he looked at them through his pale blonde hair and smiled his little smiles. 

His beautiful flower was in the kitchen when Kenshin leaned closer to Kageie and smiled one of his soft smiles that never failed to light up a room and whispered, “Thank you”. 

“For what?” Kageie looked at him his familiar small smile in place. 

“For making her smile again” Kenshin said softly.

Kageie’s eyes were hidden temporarily as they glanced towards the kitchen. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, she always smiles,” but there was a residual softness that he couldn’t hide from Kenshin as he headed home for the night.


End file.
